


with friends like ours, anywhere is home

by dj jiggle juice (therestisconfetti)



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Spoilers, aca-child!Emily, lovechild!Emily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:52:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13441092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therestisconfetti/pseuds/dj%20jiggle%20juice
Summary: She’s back to being the baby - the aca-child, if you will - and it feels comforting and familiar. For the first time in a long time, she doesn’t have to worry about keeping everything in order. She wonders how Beca and Chloe did it for so many years without falling apart; maybe it’s because they always had each other.or: a (practically) canon version of aca-child!Emily aka Emily's POV throughout PP3 with lots of Bechloe. Canon until the end because well, you know what Universal did.





	with friends like ours, anywhere is home

**Author's Note:**

> This is heavily inspired by wherehopelies' "Blow a Kiss, Fire A Gun (We All Need Someone to Lean On)." It's absolutely one of my favorite fics ever and when PP3 came out I immediately had an itch to see it through Emily's eyes. So, if you haven't read wherehopeslies' fic, I highly recommend going over and doing that after you're finished here. Anyway, here is a fic I spent entirely way too much time and effort on along with making it much longer than intended, but I hope you enjoy anyway! Title is from Another Night on Mars by The Maine

So maybe Emily should’ve been more clear about her old Bellas coming to _watch_ her and the current Bellas perform rather than come up and perform themselves.

It’s just not something she thought about, really; she’s been so busy between school and keeping these current Bellas in line that the thought that they all might show up ready to sing didn’t occur to her.

(They have cool, incredible jobs in the _real world_ anyway according to what Emily’s seen on social media.)

When she sees them in their traditional Bella outfits - which, _of course_ Chloe and Aubrey still have and still fit in perfectly fine - she panics.

(The “aca-scuse me” that Aubrey gasps doesn’t help. Like, at all.)

There’s an apology that rushes out of her lips, but it’s time to go sing so she begs them to stay.

“I’ll see you after,” she says, but it’s more like a question because wow there’s a lot happening here and she’s jogging off to catch up with the rest of her new Bellas.

Emily likes to think she didn’t hear Beca call out a reluctant “maybe” and even if she did, that’s totally just a joke, right? Like, Beca wouldn’t dip in the middle of the performance.

She tries not to let her face fall when she sees the utter disappointment on Aubrey’s face, the judgemental looks from Flo, and the fact Chloe looks about ready to cry during their performance.

She runs to the bar where the Bellas crowd afterwords, spewing apologies out of her mouth because geez, they probably all hate her. Chloe insists that it’s a good excuse to see each other, but when she asks for affirmation from everyone else, they all give her half-hearted smiles and mumble incoherent things that sound like false agreement. It makes Emily feel worse somehow, especially when Flo tells her that she could’ve been at her brother’s wedding.

By now, all of her old friends are a little bit drunk - a lot drunk for Chloe and Aubrey honestly - and then Aubrey’s suggesting they go on tour and sing for the military, which _what?_

(She also mentioned something about her dad basically killing Osama Bin Laden, but Emily’s not sure she heard that right so she doesn’t say anything.

Aubrey’s dad has always sounded a little scary, though.)

Chloe - to no one’s surprise - immediately agrees, drunk and still on the verge of tears every time she opens her mouth. Emily isn’t sure if this version of Chloe is scarier than crazy-eyed Chloe she saw throughout her freshman year.

“Well I suddenly have a lot of free time,” Beca adds after a beat. “So...hell yeah.”

Once Beca agrees, suddenly everyone else is chiming in. Emily grins. They’re all going to be back together and singing once again. She loves her new Bellas, she really does, but nothing will ever beat her first year as a Barden Bella.

“Can you fly when you’re eight months pregnant?” Stacie asks curiously.

Everyone looks at her weirdly until she reveals her stomach and suddenly it’s all squeals and “oh my gods” and “that’s eight months?!”

“You guys didn’t notice?” Stacie asks with a slight pout of her lips.

Emily thinks she’s crazy. Of course they didn’t notice. She doesn’t even look like she’s through her first trimester yet.

When everyone settles down Beca says, “Well Stacie’s out, so Emily, are you in?”

Emily nods. “Yeah I’m totally in.” She pauses for a second, realizing the odd nature of the question. “Was I not originally in?”

Everyone’s talking over each other again, reassuring her that she was _always_ included in the plans and she smiles.

“Make sure you tell our professors you’ll be gone,” Chloe tells her seriously before taking a swig of her beer, voice still thick with emotion. “And bring your assignments with you when we’re in Europe.”

Emily nods and mumbles a “yes ma’am” before shaking her head. Beca and Chloe have always been like her parents away from home. Chloe’s more obvious about it while Beca’s kind of like the quiet dad.

(She’d never tell them this though. Even if Chloe would think it’s adorable, she’s sure Beca would threaten to kill her.)

Beca snorts at the interaction. “She’s a grown woman, Chlo. She can do whatever the hell she wants.”

Yep, definitely like her parents.

But Emily doesn’t mind. She’s going to Europe for two weeks with her old Bellas!

* * *

“I have a job for you.”

Emily’s tired, not quite done packing, and still has to drop off her practice plans for her Bellas before she heads to the airport tomorrow, and yet here she is on FaceTime with Stacie, who called her out of the blue.

During Emily’s first year at Barden, Stacie had seemed to take a liking to the young legacy. She’s kind of like Emily’s older sister or maybe a cool aunt. She’s relentless in teasing the younger girl, but was always there to help her with physics homework or give her (very aggressive) advice on boys.

“What job?” Emily asks wearily. “The last time you said that to me, you were basically asking me to blow up the Bella house for your stupid graduation surprise.”

(Stacie’s as smart as they come - Emily knows this - but sometimes, the girl gets a little _too_ excited with her science.)

Stacie merely rolls her eyes. “You’re being overdramatic. The most it would’ve done is made a bit of a mess in the kitchen.”

Emily scoffs.

“Anyway,” she continues. “I need you to make it your personal mission to figure out if Beca and Chloe are together.”

“They’re not,” Emily informs her with a twist of her lips. At least, she’s pretty sure they’re not. “Beca broke up with Jesse and Chloe’s single, but they’re not together. They just live together with Fat Amy.”

Stacie rolls her eyes. “So you’re telling me after all these years they still haven’t hooked up?”

Emily blinks. “Uh, yes.”

“I don’t believe it,” Stacie insists with a scoff.

“Well believe it,” Emily tells her. “Because I am not snooping and doing your dirty work for you. Beca and Chloe are grown adults and they don’t need their friends poking and prying at their personal lives.”

Stacie whines, lips forming into a pout. “Don’t you think they need a little push?”

“Meddling is your job not mine,” the legacy reminds her.

(Which is true. Stacie had been able to drag Emily into whatever scheme she’d cooked up for the week throughout Emily’s first year as a Bella.

Back then, Emily went along with it. Now, she likes to think she knows better.)

“Yes, but I’m not going to be there,” Stacie points out. “Which is why I am recruiting you.”

“I’m not going to force them together,” Emily tells her.

And she won’t. She loves Beca and Chloe and knows they should be together. In fact, up until her audition at the Bella house all those years ago, she’d assumed they’d been dating.

(She had asked where Beca was when they were on the way to the party. Chloe had gotten a distant look on her face when she said she’s with her boyfriend; the rest of the Bellas shifted their weight awkwardly.)

But meddling isn’t her thing; it’s Stacie’s. Honestly, Emily thinks her two aca-parents will be able to figure it out on their own. They have to; it’s totally supposed to happen.

“Fine,” Stacie pouts. “But just know you’re missing out on being part of something magical.”

Emily snorts. “Goodbye Stace, I have to finish packing.”

* * *

The whole process of getting to Europe - security, waiting at the gate, the flight - makes Emily nostalgic of their World Championship run.

Amy’s back to calling her stupid, Chloe’s constantly doing a headcount and herding everyone together, Beca just smirks and makes side comments with a coffee cup in hand, and something about this feels normal. She’s back to being the baby - the aca-child, if you will - and it feels comforting and familiar. For the first time in a long time, she doesn’t have to worry about keeping everything in order. She wonders how Beca and Chloe did it for so many years without falling apart; maybe it’s because they always had each other.

Emily’s doing her abnormal psych homework at their gate when she feels someone take up the seat next to her. She sees fiery red out of the corner of her eye and recognizes Chloe right away.

“Whatcha working on there?” Chloe asks curiously, peering over to look at Emily’s notebook.

She lets out a sigh, resting back into her seat and away from her notebook. “Abnormal psych,” she replies with a groan. “I have an exam for this class a week after we get back from Europe.”

Chloe crinkles her nose. “Sounds hard.”

Emily laughs. “Just a little bit, but I’ve heard graduate school is way worse.”

“Is that what you want to do next?” the redhead asks.

The brunette lets out a long sigh as she nods. “Hopefully. I have to take the GRE and all of that, but fingers crossed it all works out.”

Chloe smiles, sweet and caring like Emily remembers, and she reaches over to pat her knee. “You can do it,” she assures her with full conviction in her voice. “We all believe in you.”

It’s things like this that she misses the most about the old Bellas. Chloe’s always been her biggest supporter, even if she’d been a little on the edge for majority of Emily’s freshman year.

(She’ll never forget Chloe’s _really_ crazy eyes after Emily accidentally started singing Flashlight instead of a 90s hip-hop jam.

Thank God Beca was there to save her.)

Chloe’s always been able to see the best in people, and Emily misses her unwavering optimism and cheery disposition more often than not. Her heart swells for a moment because she’s finally getting to spend quality time with Chloe as well as the rest of them and she can’t wait to sing for fun and just hang out.

Screw abnormal psych. It can wait.

Beca walks up to them, handing Chloe a Starbucks cup with a tea tag sticking out of it and offers a nod of acknowledgement to Emily which she returns.

“I don’t know why you didn’t ask for this when I got my coffee earlier,” she grumbles, sipping her almost empty coffee cup.

Chloe only shrugs, beaming up at her. “I just decided I wanted it now, you know?”

Beca rolls her eyes, but Emily can see the smile she’s fighting. It makes Emily herself smile.

Yeah, she’s definitely missed these two.

(She watches them on the plane, how natural it is for Chloe to be playing with Beca’s fingers as she leans into the tiny brunette, talking about some nonsense while Beca entertains the talk with a smile and her full attention.

How are they not together yet? Emily doesn’t understand.

She won’t meddle though. That’s Stacie’s specialty.)

* * *

They finally land after like, a _million_ hours, and Emily is so tired she might collapse. She suddenly wakes up though when she sees two nice, handsome military men approaching them. The whispers begin amongst the girls about just how attractive these men are, and she’s sure Fat Amy makes a crude comment that Emily’s glad she doesn’t here. She takes a look at Beca and sees her scowling instead of taking part. Weird.

The first guy introduces himself as Chicago and welcomes them to the base they’ve arrived at. Everyone - including Emily - is kind of just fawning over him, but the young legacy notices Beca’s still scowling.

“Do you not think he’s hot?” she whispers, leaning forward as Chicago continues talking.

Beca makes a soft noise of disdain. “He’s not all that.”

Emily would like to argue that he certainly _is_ all that, but decides she’d rather not set Beca Mitchell off further.

Fat Amy makes jokes about bases while everyone stands around awkwardly and uncomfortably. Beca seems to crack a smile at this though, Emily notices. Then Chloe raises her hand and Beca’s scowl immediately returns.

“Is 1700, like, later at night?” she asks, her voice higher than normal and an adorable tilt to her head.

Beca makes a noise next to Chloe and Emily watches the small producer roll her eyes and cross her arms rather tightly at the exchange going on before them. It doesn’t help that Chicago flashes a hint of a smile at Chloe despite her stupid and obvious question.

“It’s five,” he tells her.

Beca’s scowl only deepens as they all follow the men inside. Chloe, instead of falling into step with Beca as she typically does when they go almost anywhere, goes ahead and catches up with Chicago, eyes bright and voice high the entire time.

“Can you believe her?” Beca scoffs to no one in particular.

Emily looks around, exchanging a look with Cynthia Rose - not surprisingly the only person besides Beca that’s uninterested in Chicago - who shakes her head with a smirk.

* * *

Oh. Oh boy. These are real bands, Emily realizes when they meet the rest of the groups inside the hangar-turned-stage for soundcheck. They’re fiercely intimidating - especially the all-girl band Evermoist, even if the name does make Emily cringe a little bit.

Also, turns out they’re all competing to open for DJ Khaled, which is some very new and somewhat scary information.

“So there is a competition,” Chloe says in glee. Emily can’t see her face, but she imagines the crazy eyes are coming to life when she turns to Aubrey.

“And so there is,” Aubrey nods with a smirk.

Oh, no. Here they go again. Emily doesn’t know if she can take another high-strung Chloe for a handful of time in various foreign countries, especially not when _Aubrey_ is here too. She’s heard stories of Beca’s freshman year and as fun as it was hearing about it, she’d really rather not re-live it right now.

“Emily writes some songs for the Bellas,” Chloe says in the middle of the most awkward exchange Emily’s probably been in.

(Actually, between all the Bellas that’s probably not true, but she figures this is one of her top five.)

“Actually, I don’t really do that anymore,” she says meekly. “Not after that one-”

“Hey hey hey.” Aubrey Posen sends her the sharpest glare she’s ever seen and it’s no wonder everyone was so scared of her before. “Are you with us or against us?” she asks in a hard tone.

Emily can’t think of a response that doesn’t end with the blonde scoffing at her, so she bites her lip and avoids Aubrey’s eyes. Beca offers her a sympathetic shrug.

Evermoist doesn’t seem to be letting up on the Bellas so Emily decides to speak up by saying, “Guys, stop. They don’t like sharing the spotlight so they’re trying to intimidate us. Let’s just take the high road and do what we do.”

Good job, Emily. She mentally pats herself on the back for it.

“Thinkin’ what I’m thinking?” Cynthia Rose asks.

“What are you thinking?” Emily’s kind of scared to hear the response.

“A riff-off!” Fat Amy pipes up, and suddenly the rest of the Bellas are buzzing.

Emily’s mouth drops and she tilts her head because _no_ that wasn’t what she was talking about. Not at all.

“That’s not what I was..thinking,” Emily admits, eyebrows furrowed and a frown on her face.

No one seems to be listening to her now.

“Wait, yes! A RIFF-OFF, YES!”

There’s commotion and Emily turns to see those two annoying a cappella talk show hosts trying to figure out their equipment while moving towards the crowd that assembled when the Bellas arrived.

(Who invited them, anyway?)

And thus begins the second most embarrassing riff-off Emily’s been a part of.

Don’t get her wrong - it’s fun. Singing with this specific group is something Emily figured would only be left in her memories of the “old days” when she was young and naive and had everyone else to teach her. For a few moments, she just loses herself in the music and how easily their harmonies fall together despite not doing this together for a few years.

But it’s still embarrassing, especially when all the other groups team up against them.

(Emily wishes she could avoid situations like this, but it never seems likely with the Bellas.)

* * *

Getting away from the rest of the bands is a straight relief for Emily, and the girls seem to forget about it quickly - beginning to talk over each other again and laughing like always as they ride to their hotel.

While they wait in the hotel lobby for Chloe to check them in Aubrey asks, “Do you really not write songs anymore?”

She looks up from the travel magazine she’d been skimming and stutters over her words. “I’ve just been so busy. I’m taking 23 units this semester and the GRE is coming up so I’ve been busy with that,” she explains. “And...I’ve got a hamster now.”

(Her mom said no dogs while in college. A hamster had to do. He’s cute and fat, so Emily likes him.)

The thought of everything she has on her plate begins to stress her out a little bit, actually. Wow, she’s supposed to be graduating soon and going off and hopefully getting into graduate school. Yet she’s in freakin’ Europe touring with the old Bellas.

This information seems to upset Aubrey - which, Emily like hardly knows her so this is kind of weird - and she puts down the pamphlet she was just holding to fully give her attention to the younger Bella.

“You can’t give up on something you love,” Aubrey tells her. “My father always said ‘Fear ages the brain, but regret ages the heart.’”

Emily opens her mouth to say something (or possibly to just gape in confusion, she’s not sure), but Chloe’s calling them over for their keys. She’s standing at the counter handing everyone keys to their hotel rooms while she still looks bright-eyed at Chicago and Emily notices Beca barely looked in Chloe’s direction before snagging a key and scurrying away to the elevator.

* * *

Emily’s nervous. She doesn’t usually get nervous about performances anymore - she’s gotten well over that now, but these other groups are just so intimidating - _especially_ Evermoist, whose members each deliver an air of intensity and confidence (arrogance?) simply by the way they carry themselves. Plus, these groups actually use instruments and sing their own songs most of the time. All the Bellas have is their mouths (which, like, totally rocks by the way - it’s just that this is different now).

And Emily had suggested that “we should just stay true to ourselves and it will all figure itself out,” but everyone else seems to think differently. Fat Amy told her once again that she’s stupid which, Emily didn’t really miss that.

She joins Aubrey and Chloe on the side of the stage. They both possess a look of sheer prowl in their eyes as they watch all the other bands perform. Beca joins them shortly after, and at the sight of Chloe’s eyes she immediately begins to attempt to play down the competition.

“They’re better than Saddle Up even,” Chloe gapes at Evermoist.

Beca grimaces, unsure of what else to do at this point. Emily only shrugs.

“You ready?” the music producer asks her, tapping the microphone into her palm out of nervous habit.

Emily lets out a shaky breath, hoping the nerves go along with it. “Yeah, I think so,” she nods. “I don’t know. I’ve just never sang to military people before. They should like a capella, right? And you know, we can’t go wrong with Cheap Thrills. People in the military listen to that kind of music, right?”

Beca chuckles and lets her lips form into a smirk as she nudges the taller girl. “Yes. They’re going to like a cappella and yes unless they live under a rock, they should know Cheap Thrills. You’re going to do great, kid.”

And at first it _does_ go well. The crowd was a little hesitant at first about it, but as the performance goes on the crowd begins to sway to the music and cheer and Emily feeds off of it. She’s having the time of her life and she can’t help but grin when she makes eye contact with _any_ of the girls - Jessica and Ashley included.

Then the speakers start blaring and the music stops and everyone’s at a loss. It’s a new low.

She can imagine this is only a fraction of what it felt like at the Kennedy Center, which is a complete low on its own. As they all scramble to figure out what to do - is it a salute? Is it a hand over your heart? - she sees the other groups on the side of the stage, laughing at their mess.

As they all walk off stage in defeat, Emily decides she’s done taking the back seat and letting everyone else call the shots.

* * *

Emily storms into Beca’s hotel room with a dress her mother (real mother - not her Bella mother Chloe Beale) would probably not approve of and heels she can barely walk in. Whatever bickering was going on instantly stops and everyone’s eyes are on the youngest of the bunch.

“All right ladies, pick up your tits!” she demands while she storms in unannounced. “We’re going out.”

She looks around the room and feels all the girls’ curious eyes on her. Aubrey’s gaze right beside her makes her feel a little judged, but it’s Aubrey so she lets it go.

“What do you mean ‘going out’?”

Emily recognizes the voice as Beca’s, locating the tiny brunette only a moment later. She notices the way Beca is casually laying next to Chloe, who is sitting with her back against the headboard and almost fawns at the domesticity of it, but brings her attention back to the matter at hand.

“What do you mean what do I mean?” she asks. “We just sucked balls in front of DJ Khaled.”

Aubrey makes a noise of confusion to her side while Fat Amy - who is lounging at the foot of the bed shared by Beca and Chloe - slowly lifts her body.

“Listening…” the Australian drawls out.

The look she gives kind of scares Emily, but she goes on.

“He’s staying at the fancy casino hotel across the street,” she informs them. “I say we all get up, we get dressed, and we show him that we’re not a joke!”

All of the older girls exchange glances for a moment, unsure of what to do with their runt of the group standing in front of them with too much boobage and demanding orders. She waits only a second before someone - not surprisingly Fat Amy - speaks.

“Emily,” she says, now pushing herself off of the bed. “I can’t believe a half-decent idea came out of your dumb mouth.”

The legacy would’ve responded with some muttered response under her breath, but it seems like Amy’s the only one on board with her suggestion so instead she just says, “Thank you.”

“Okay,” Fat Amy decides, looking around the room to address the rest of the girls. “So let’s get tarted up and-”

“Tatted?” someone asks.

Emily’s glad she’s not the only one who didn’t quite catch what Fat Amy said.

“Tarted,” Amy repeats again, looking around.

“It sounds like ‘tatted up,’” Aubrey says, looking at Amy with a puzzled expression.

“Tarted up?”

“She means tatted,” Beca informs Chloe confidently, tilting her head up to face the redhead.

Emily watches Chloe lean her head against the headboard, facing Beca and murmuring a response that no one else can hear.

“She’s the caramel tart,” Amy says, pointing to Flo. “She’s the chocolate tart,” she continues to point at Cynthia-Rose.

Both girls look at her with wild confusion.

“You’re the vanilla tart,” she says at Beca.

“Thanks babe,” she replies, giving Fat Amy a teasing once-over.

(Emily doesn’t miss the way Chloe lets a soft chuckle escape her lips.)

Amy points at Chloe and the redhead grins excitedly, but all Amy does is let out a hum of hesitation.

That’s when it clicks for Emily.

“Oh _tarted_ ,” she clarifies for the girls, turning to Aubrey who nods along.

“Ohh tar-ted,” the blonde nods, emphasizing the second “t”. “Tar-ted.”

“If it’s easier we’ll just say slutty,” Amy relents.

Emily would ask herself why they have the dumbest conversations, but she’s honestly just too happy everyone seems to be willing to actually listen to her and go along with her plan for once.

“You wanna hang here while everyone else gets ready?” Beca asks her as everyone else disperses back to their respective rooms to get _tarted_ up.

“Uh yeah sure,” she nods, taking a seat on Beca’s bed as the music producer hops off the bed and immediately goes to her suitcase.

Emily watches quietly as Beca digs through her suitcase, muttering something about “what the hell am I supposed to wear” as she begins to make a mess on the floor. She tosses t-shirts and shorts and skirts all over the place. As if realizing something, her head snaps up and she faces the legacy.

“Where’d you even get that dress?” she asks with a quirked eyebrow. “And since when did you start wearing things like that?”

God, why does Beca sound just like her father?

“Zara, and I don’t know. I figured I’d need it for some fancy occasion,” she shrugs. “Which is _clearly_ working in my favor now.”

Take that one, aca-dad!

Beca narrows her eyes at Emily. “You’ve got a mouth on you now, don’t you?”

Emily only shrugs because she’s somewhat afraid Beca might glare her into oblivion if she says one more thing. Suddenly, the older girl’s eyes widen.

“I totally forgot,” she mumbles to herself, frantically digging through her suitcase. Only a moment later, she pulls out a black jumpsuit and grins victoriously. “Good thing I packed this. Be right back,” she tells Emily before she scurries off into the bathroom.

Emily flops back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling and letting her thoughts wander. She does this often, getting lost in her thoughts to pass the time. She’s still over the moon that for once the older Bellas are actually _listening_ to her and going along with the idea she’s come up with. She feels like that’s a pretty cool accomplishment. This tour is supposed to be fun; _they’re_ supposed to be having fun. She hopes going to that hotel casino can remind them all of that.

The door suddenly bursts open and Emily hears, “Beca do you have my lipstick?”

Emily pops back up into a sitting position to see Chloe has entered the room in a gorgeous green dress that compliments her bright blue eyes extremely well, which are more of a focus with her hair done up.

“Oh hey Em,” she smiles when she realizes it’s Emily and not Beca sitting on the bed.

“Hi,” she replies. “Beca’s in the-”

“I have it, Chlo!” a muffled voice calls from the other side of the bathroom door.

“I need it!” Chloe says, then offers Emily a wink. “Found her.”

A soft giggle escapes Emily’s mouth before Chloe makes her way over to her, smoothing out a part of the younger girl’s hair that must’ve gotten messed up when she had been laying down.

“Be out in a sec,” Beca promises.

Chloe lets out a soft “mkay” as she tucks a strand of Emily’s hair behind her ear. Emily simply grins at her, not minding at all the fact Chloe is currently mothering her without even saying a word. She misses the intimacy and genuine love Chloe brings to everyone she meets.

(Except for Das Sound Machine - Chloe really hated them.)

“You look really pretty,” Emily tells her.

The redhead beams, taking a seat next to Emily on the edge of the bed. “Thanks, you too.”

Not even a moment later, the bathroom door swings open. Both girls snap their attention to the incoming Beca Mitchell, who holds Chloe’s lipstick in her hand.

“Alright here’s your lip-” her sentence is cut short when she notices the looks the other two are currently giving her. “What, what’s wrong? Is there something on my face? Did I get foundation on my outfit?”

Emily, for her part, is simply impressed. She knows Beca’s pretty, _everyone_ knows Beca’s pretty - not in the way they immediately notice _Chloe_ or _Stacie_ ; that’s totally different, but it’s still noticeable - she can’t say she’s seen Beca this...exposed and confident about how she looks.

The low cut jumpsuit was a great purchase for her, Emily decides.

Chloe, on the other hand...well, Emily takes one look at Chloe and wonders if the older girl has lost every ability to do anything other than stare.

Her mouth has fallen open into an almost perfect oval, and Chloe’s impossibly vivid eyes are wide and directed right at Beca. Well, if Emily’s being specific, her eyes are zeroed in on Beca’s cleavage. Not that Emily’s really trying to figure out what has Chloe in a spell, but it’s kind of obvious at this point.

They’re bordering on passing five seconds of total silence so Emily decides to speak. The best she comes up with as she faces Beca again is, “Wow, holy cleavage.”

She inwardly cringes at herself. She’s pretty sure Beca thinks she’s _cool_ now, after being a total aca-nerd her freshman year. She’d like to keep it that way and stop saying stupid things like “holy cleavage.”

Beca’s eyes widen as she looks down at her own cleavage and back at the girls. She consciously tugs the fabric higher and asks, “Is this too much? Oh my god, this is way too much, isn’t it?”

“No way,” Emily shakes her head. “It’s totally fine, Beca. You look hot! Embrace it!”

She offers Emily a nervous smile, but her attention is quickly back on Chloe, who is still seemingly stuck in her unblinking _wow-Beca’s-boobs_ dilemma. “Do you hate it?” she asks.

Beca’s direct question seems to snap Chloe out of her weird trance. She shakes her head in response before she snaps her mouth shut only to open it again and say, “No, no I don’t - I _don’t_ hate it.”

“Really?”

Chloe nods so seriously that Emily’s worried her neck will snap. “I - seriously, Beca, they look great - _it_ looks great. _You_ look great,” she corrects herself and Emily feels secondhand embarrassment creeping onto her own cheeks.

“Okay,” Beca gives in, letting out a breath she was holding in, seemingly relieved that Chloe doesn’t hate her outfit.

(Emily notices Chloe’s whole weird act goes over Beca’s head completely.)

“Yeah - no - I wow, amazing really Becs,” Chloe stutters, suddenly standing up. She almost robotically walks over to Beca, snatching her lipstick out of her hand. “I’m just - I’m gonna go round up the girls,” she informs them both.

“O...kay,” the music producer nods slowly, eyebrows knitting together at Chloe’s behavior.

The redhead is practically _flying_ out the door when she adds “Meet you guys in the lobby!”

Beca and Emily are left in the hotel room, door still open, staring in the direction Chloe ran off to.

“That was…”

“Weird?” Emily supplies.

Beca nods. “Very…”

(Stacie’s right, maybe Beca and Chloe _do_ need a little push, especially after what Emily just witnessed.

But she still won’t meddle. That’s not her job.)

* * *

Aubrey’s somewhat taken Emily under her wing for this trip - sitting with her on the plane, giving her advice in the lobby - and although initially hesitant, Emily welcomes it.

(Even though she’s changed, Emily’s still scared of the blonde. Sometimes she shivers when she thinks about how Aubrey had single-handedly run them into the ground a few years back.)

She’d heard stories of the legendary Aubrey Posen before, you know, pukegate and all that. Chloe would only ever say the nicest things about her - because she’s Chloe and Aubrey Posen’s absolute best friend - and Beca would make a half-teasing, half-mean comment to which Chloe would nudge her. It seems they’d healed old wounds by the time Emily saw Aubrey in person at the Lodge where tensions ran high and she guesses it's something Beca’s freshman year looked like with all the fighting. But Aubrey is nice to her, and Emily appreciates it.

So it comes with minimal surprise to Emily when Aubrey pairs up with her on the Bella’s search for DJ Khaled instead of automatically picking Chloe. When Emily takes a look at the redhead all she can see is the way her and Beca are stuck by each other and Chloe may or may not be checking out Beca’s boobs - _again_ , she might add.

The tall, slim blonde is marching in a direction away from the Bellas and Emily quickly catches up with her, afraid of being left behind.

As soon as they’re out of earshot Aubrey scoffs and says, “You’d think Chloe couldn’t be any more obvious.”

“So you saw her checking out Beca’s boobs too?” Emily asks in a somewhat small voice, afraid of the annoyance on Aubrey’s face.

“Of course I did,” Aubrey replies, looking around for their person of interest.

Emily lets out a short laugh. “You should’ve seen Chloe when Beca walked out of the bathroom earlier in that jumpsuit,” she tells the older girl. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that speechless.”

Aubrey makes a noise somewhere between disgust and a scoff. “How is Beca Mitchell the most oblivious dwarf on the entire planet?”

Emily decides not to answer that because, well, she doesn’t exactly know how to answer it, or how to reply to the fact Aubrey just addressed Beca as a dwarf.

A man passes by with the tray full of champagne. Aubrey immediately reaches out and grabs one without a second thought. Emily follows suit.

Aubrey eyes her carefully. “Are you old enough to legally drink?” she asks seriously.

“Aubrey, I’m a college senior. I turn 22 in a few months,” Emily matter-of-fact informs her. “And anyway, isn’t the legal drinking age here like 16 or 18?”

She knocks back the flute, finishing almost half of it in a single go. Aubrey raises her eyebrow at her, and Emily can’t tell if she’s impressed or judging the younger girl. She says nothing though, and does just as Emily did a moment ago. Except Aubrey actually finishes hers in her first go.

Emily grins in approval.

“Come on,” Aubrey says as she places the flute on the nearest table. “Let’s go find DJ Khaled.”

Emily nods, downing the last of her champagne. “Yes ma’am,” she says as she follows Aubrey through the casino.

They don’t make it too far until they’re beginning to run into the rest of the Bellas. None of the girls have been successful in locating DJ Khaled or any of his team. Aubrey lets out a sigh and stops everyone in order to regroup.

“Okay, who’s missing?”

“Um,” Emily quickly takes inventory of everyone on sight. “Fat Amy, Beca, and Chloe.”

“Of course,” Aubrey mutters under her breath, but she straightens her posture and channels in that (sometimes scary) leader role she plays so well. “Alright, let’s find those three and then come up with a new plan.”

The rest of the girls nod in agreement and Aubrey and Emily begin to head off into the direction they saw Beca and Chloe head off to when they split. Aubrey thinks she spots red hair and immediately leads the cluster of Bellas over to them, only coming to an abrupt stop causing everyone to run into each other and it’s a miracle no one trips onto the floor.

“Aubrey what the-” Emily starts, but her words hang there when she turns her head.

Oh. Em. Aca. Gee.

Beca has her back pressed up against the wall while Chloe Beale is _literally_ grabbing her boobs.

Is this - is the moment they’ve all been waiting for?

“What are you guys doing?” Aubrey asks, craning her neck as she approaches cautiously.

Chloe’s immediately dropping her hands and spinning around as Beca pushes off the wall right behind her. They look like deer in headlights: doe-eyed and slightly afraid.

“Nothing,” they answer at the same time.

Beca covers her cleavage with her arms as she pushes past Chloe to join the group.

(Oh, Emily is _totally_ gonna have to tell Stacie about this later.)

* * *

Thanks to the weird producer dude and Beca, they manage to find - and get invited to stay - at DJ Khaled’s party. Emily sticks with Aubrey from the start, figuring she’s the most responsible and adult-like out of the Bellas.

(She’ll re-think that decision later after the events of the night unfold.)

They follow Theo around for a mini tour, and Emily is honestly blown away with every little thing going on here. The guy has his own personal _juicer-dude_ who follows him anywhere he goes. Emily is simply floored.

When Theo invites Beca - and _only_ Beca, apparently - to check something out, Emily suddenly thinks he’s a little less cool if he’s trying to put the moves on Beca. She watches as Beca goes hesitantly, as if asking Chloe if it’s okay if she goes.

See? Totally married already.

“Come on let’s mingle,” Aubrey says to her once Beca disappears and Emily gladly follows.

Somehow, they end up talking to some guy in the army - Emily doesn’t catch his name, but she guesses he’s super important because Aubrey stands a little straighter when she talks to him. When Aubrey asks what he’s mostly recently worked on, he mentions a “General Posen” and Emily perks up.

“Oh my god so you were just with Aubrey's dad!" she points out rather excitedly.

He nods, smiling at Aubrey who beams. "He was so excited to see your show,” he tells her.

At this information, Aubrey’s grin impossibly widens and her eyes shine in a way only a daughter who seeks affection from her father can do.

“It's just too bad that he can't make it,” the man adds good-heartedly.

Emily deflates a little. She doesn’t know Aubrey as well as the other do, but she knows how hard her father is on her and how she often seeks for his approval and affection. She watches the older girl curiously for a reaction.

There’s a flicker of disappointment in her eyes, and a second later her whole expression drops. “Oh," she says as her breathing shallows a bit and her voice gets a little higher. "Oh that's okay."

Emily reaches out, putting a hand on Aubrey's elbow in comfort.

"That's okay," Aubrey repeats. "It's totally fine. You know, he's a busy man."

The legacy makes noises of agreement as Aubrey continues talking.

"And my dad always said," she starts and Emily tries not to face palm. "'Expect finite disappointment and remember there's always-'"

Aubrey loses her footing and pushes a tall floor candle holder into the curtains.

Emily watches as all hell breaks loose.

If she’s being honest, she kind of blacks out as it all happens. All she registers is sheer panic, fire, and bees. She hardly even realizes she’s got a guitar in her hand, nor does she completely register the fact she uses it to shatter a window open to get rid of the bees until it’s finish and she’s surrounded by shattered glass and hysteria.

Yeah, maybe sticking with Aubrey wasn’t her greatest idea of the night.

* * *

Plan: Show DJ Khaled and other bands they aren’t a joke.

Result: Will probably never ever be taken seriously by anyone on this tour ever again.

Emily feels guilty. She had this great idea and it all shattered to pieces. She’d tried to call Stacie, but she hadn’t answered so she sent her a message instead and there was still no reply from her when Emily woke up this morning.

Now here she is, sitting on her luggage with the rest of the Bellas looking as depressed as she’s ever felt in her entire life.

There’s something inside of her that itches to write. It’s almost like a reflex for her. She’s _really_ stressed right now because of all the school she’s missing and add on last night’s events, there are about a million words prepared to flow out onto paper.

She hasn’t actually written anything in so long, but the temptation and need is still there, like a habit you can’t ditch.

Every band that walks past them has something to say and most of the Bellas just kind of sit there and sulk, except for Fat Amy who ends up looking like a complete idiot because she’s suddenly choking on air and Emily wants to crawl under a rock and die.

“Dude,” Beca says once Amy isn’t on the verge of dying and Evermoist leaves them alone. “Where did you go last night? ”

Fat Amy stares at her, hesitant. “What? Uh..you mean when you were burning down the hotel?”

Beca won’t take that bullshit though, her voice becoming a tad more aggressive. “Where were you?”

Everyone stares at Fat Amy expectantly and she cracks. Emily kind of just sits there stunned for a moment as she explains her psycho father, Aubrey basically calls her a psycho for running away from her father, and Amy goes on her whole spiel about not wanting to see him.

Emily decides to give her opinion.

(Which, by the way, is always the wrong decision when she’s speaking to Fat Amy.)

“I mean, I think that's amazing," she admits. "And so should you! It's a crazy thing if he's _finally_ found you after all these years. Now you can re-kindle the relationship and-and it could be even stronger than it was - and maybe he was _not a very nice guy_ before, but maybe is now! Maybe he's-”

Instead of, you know, taking in Emily’s words and thanking her for her advice, Fat Amy suddenly rapidly approaching her.

"Okay Emily you are  _so shrill and inarticulate!_ "

Emily’s eyes widen and she jumps up just as Beca stands between them in attempts to hold Amy back. Aubrey immediately places an arm in front of Emily as if to shield her, and not too long after everyone’s involved and yelling and either holding back Fat Amy or acting like a guard for Emily.

Emily stands helplessly as everyone else moves around her.

Gotta love family, right?

“Guys! It’s Stacie!” Chloe suddenly snaps at the girls.

As if on command, everyone stops their bickering and immediately rushes over to the steps where they can all squeeze around Chloe and fit in the frame. Emily’s one of the first to the phone, popping in right next to Chloe, because Stacie Conrad has not answered her messages in the past twelve hours!

“Stacie it’s going terribly her!” Chloe whines.

"Yeah, we're getting our asses handed to us," Cynthia Rose pipes up.

 Everyone starts giving their own input, but Stacie cuts them off.

“Guys,” she says in an uncharacteristically warm voice. “I had the baby.”

It’s just now that Emily notices Stacie’s donning a hospital gown and she’s in a hospital bed.

Talking over each other turns into fawning over the newest member of their little family as Stacie angles her phone down so they can see the newborn in her arms.

Emily thinks the child is adorable. She hopes she gets to be a godmother.

“You can name her Baby Fat Amy or Baby Fat Patricia,” Amy suggests with a confident smirk. "You can choose."

Everyone’s silent for a moment, and then they’re all talking over each other again - Emily included - in attempts to talk Stacie into naming the child after _her_ instead.

“I know I was always your favorite-”

“We had a bond-”

“Don’t forget everything I’ve done for you-”

“You love me the most!”

“Guys,” Stacie says again, a laugh bubbling in her throat at their ridiculousness. “I named her Bella.”

Everyone softens, cooing and all agreeing that the name Stacie chose - for her _own_ child - is as perfect as they come.

(In retrospect, sharing the same name as Stacie’s kid would’ve been a little weird, Emily figures.)

“I love you guys,” she smiles at them. 

They all shout their “love you”s back before Chloe hangs up, turning to face the other Bellas.

There are emotions and Emily speaks and no one tells her to shut up for once.

"Guys can we just stop trying to win this tour and sing together?" she suggests. "I mean that's why we're all here, right?"

She grins when she sees the girls looking around at each other, with sentimental smiles and still full of emotions because Stacie just had her  _baby_ and if that doesn't put things into perspective, well, Emily doesn't know what else to do.

“Yeah, but also let’s still try to win this thing because I don’t know how else to live!” Aubrey says.

Yeah, Aubrey’s intensity still kind of scares her.

* * *

Emily’s having the absolute time of her life.

She’s seeing so many different countries, singing in front of people every few nights, and laughing harder than she can remember.

Who needs school? She has the Bellas.

They’re getting pretty popular, if Emily thinks about it. The soldiers totally dig them, and she’s pretty sure she’s caught DJ Khaled and his weird assistant dude watching their set looking entertained and _totally_ feeling their performance.

(Emily ignores the fact assistant dude’s eyes are usually on Beca and only Beca.)

Every new hotel room means cramming into one bedroom when there are eleven separate ones and bringing snacks for jokes and laughter and Emily’s heart almost bursts at the seams every time because _wow_ , she really loves these girls.

And sure, she’s the baby of them all and she has homework she should be worried about, but they all tease her and let her be part of their _grown up_ conversations about real life and Emily can’t help but know this is where she’s supposed to be in this exact moment.

She kind of hopes this tour never ends.

* * *

In Italy, Beca and Chloe take her out for gelato.

The rest of the Bellas are either scattered around the city or lounging by the pool back at their hotel. Emily had been going over some key terms for one of her psych classes when Beca had popped into her room unannounced.

“Put the books down nerd, you’re coming with us!” Beca had announced with a smirk.

Emily hadn’t put up much of a fight, practically leaping out of her chair and following Beca out of her room without a second thought.

They’re seated outside of a cute little gelato shop only two blocks away from the hotel. Chloe had insisted she pay; wrestling Beca’s credit card out of her hands and quickly shoving it in her bra (“Gross dude!” Beca had whined) and told them to order anything they want.

“So how are your Bellas looking?” Chloe asks her enthusiastically.

Emily swallows her spoonful before answering excitedly, “They’re really good! The set we did at the aquarium is actually what we performed at sectionals. We won first place there, and then at regionals too. We’re on track for nationals and the set we’re working on is gonna be really big.”

Beca raises an eyebrow. “Is it a big mash up?”

“Oh no,” Emily quickly stutters, shaking her head. “We couldn’t - it’s nothing like you used to do, Bec. We’re still playing around with it, but I have a good feeling we can bring home another title.”

Chloe beams. “That’s our little legacy!”

Emily smiles really big. She loves making Beca and Chloe proud. Actually, it’s all she could ever hope for. Ever since they all graduated, Emily’s wondered how she could fill such big shoes. The first year was admittedly rough, but she’s happy to say the Barden Bellas are still seen with a sense of reverence in the a capella world.

“You know,” Beca starts. “If you need help with your set for nationals, I could help you guys with something new.”

“Really?” the legacy gapes when Beca nods seriously. “That would be _amazing._ I think we’d really really benefit from that, actually.”

Chloe gasps, staring at Beca wide eyed. “Is this the same Beca Mitchell who refused to audition for the Barden Bellas all those years ago?”

Beca rolls her eyes. “Shut it,” she says with a light nudge at Chloe’s arm. She turns her attention back to Emily. “Seriously kid, we’re proud of you. You’ve done well.”

Emily feels warm and tingly all over and grins at her two aca-parents. “I love you guys,” she gushes.

Beca scrunches her nose. Chloe says it right back. Emily lives for the normalcy.

Chloe eyes Beca’s half-eaten gelato. “Can I try some?” she asks.

“I don’t know why you ask,” the brunette scoffs, scooping up a bite for Chloe as she does so. “You always take my food anyway.”

“You don’t finish it,” Chloe reminds her.

Beca only rolls her eyes in response, feeding Chloe the spoonful of her gelato without hesitation. Chloe grins at her.

“Delicious,” she says with a wink.

“Dork,” Beca snorts.

Emily silently fawns over them.

It’s only a few minutes later that Chloe’s doubled over in laughter at a witty comment Beca couldn’t resist making. Emily’s in a fit of giggles too, and it makes Beca smirk in triumph that they both think she’s hilarious. As Emily tries to control herself, she watches as doubled-over Chloe reaches out and grabs Beca’s hand, trying to ease her laughter. Beca lets her hold her hand, looking very amused at the fact Chloe can’t seem to stop laughing.

Emily smiles. They’ll totally figure it out eventually.

* * *

Italy’s fun.

They all go out after one of their best performances yet.

Emily gets super drunk.

She dances with Chloe and sings with Fat Amy and she feels on top of the world.

And if she doesn’t remember parts of the night, then so be it.

* * *

In the next city they hit on tour, Aubrey takes her to a coffee shop.

Emily brings her homework. Aubrey brings the latest book she’s reading.

It’s nice, really. Emily’s able to get a change of scenery that motivates her to do her work instead of just hotel room after hotel room. Aubrey seems very interested in reading her book and sipping on her latte. They split a pastry while they’re at it, too.

“If I have to look at another psychological term I think I’m going to explode,” Emily groans after an hour and a half of working through her homework.

Aubrey puts her book down and takes a peek at Emily’s paper. She nods empathetically. “That’s a lot of long, complicated words.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

The blonde sighs wistfully. “I’m not gonna lie, I kinda miss college sometimes.”

Emily makes a face. “I wouldn’t.”

At this, Aubrey lets a laugh fall from her lips and shakes her head. “Okay not the school part of it,” she explains. “But the friends part, the _Bellas._ ”

“Oh,” Emily nods in understanding.

“I wish I had more time with the girls, that it didn’t all come together my senior year when I had to leave.” She adds after a beat, “To be able to spend a year with a legacy.”

“You could’ve failed a class on purpose like Chloe did three times,” Emily half-jokes.

At the thought of failing, Aubrey looks like she might have a panic attack and Emily regrets the words coming out of her mouth. It quickly passes though, making Emily relax and she’s back with an eye roll.

“I still can’t believe she did that.”

Emily shrugs. “She loves the Bellas.”

“ _Right,_ ” Aubrey scoffs.

“Um,” Emily quirks an eyebrow. “Is there something you want to share?”

Aubrey raises her eyebrows back at Emily in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you thought Chloe seriously failed three times just to be a Bella.”

Maybe Emily’s as stupid as Fat Amy keeps saying.

“I’m not following…”

“Brown hair, headphone tattoo on her wrist, about yay high,” Aubrey describes, holding her hand up to a height that definitely was _not_ the same as Beca’s, but exaggerated enough to where Emily’s able put the pieces together.

“Ohh,” she nods with understanding. “Beca. She stayed for Beca.”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. Chloe loves the Bellas more than anything, but that little music producer definitely has Chloe wrapped around her finger. She was more or less the tipping point in Chloe deciding to stay longer than she needed to.”

“Does Beca know she did that for her?” Emily asks.

“Oh please,” Aubrey glares at nothing in particular. “Beca Mitchell is the most oblivious person on the planet. Not to mention she was with that annoying _Treble_ for so long.”

Emily’s always thought Jesse’s a really nice guy. Clearly, Aubrey does not share the same sentiments.

(She vaguely remembers some Bella oath her mother told her about involving Trebles, but Beca and Chloe never mentioned it when they initiated her.)

Aubrey must read the conflict on Emily’s face because she says, “Listen, Beca’s one of my best friends now behind Chloe. I love the girl, but sometimes she just can’t see what’s in front of her.”

Emily nods slowly, digesting the information Aubrey’s given her.

Wow, no wonder Stacie’s been antsy about Beca and Chloe getting together. It’s well past time now, she figures.

She and Aubrey leave the coffee shop shortly after, deciding it’s been enough reading and homework for one day. It turns out, Aubrey’s a really cool person when she’s not yelling at you like a drill sergeant or telling you odd quote from her father.

Speaking of her father, as they begin to approach the hotel, Emily asks, “Have you talked to your dad recently?”

Aubrey sighs. “He’s been really busy,” she explains. “He’s trying to make it to our show in France, but…”

Emily’s heart lurches for Aubrey. She knows her father’s been hard on her, but it’s obvious the blonde still longs for his love and attention after all these years.

“I understand though,” Aubrey says, more so trying to talk herself out of a sad state rather than informing Emily. “He’s very important and has other things regarding the safety of our country to worry about.”

“Just have hope,” she tells her as they make their way to their hotel rooms. “There’s a possibly still there.”

Aubrey looks at her, a grateful smile on her face. “Thanks Em.”

Emily nudges her. “We’re family, too you know.”

“I know,” Aubrey promises.

She says goodbye to Aubrey and continues down the hall to her bedroom when she notices a conversation going on. It’s taking place in what she recognizes as Chloe’s hotel room with the door is left slightly ajar. She picks up on the voices belonging as to Beca and Chloe, and they sound a little tense.

She doesn’t _mean_ to eavesdrop, but they’re her friends - aca-parents - and she’s a little concerned by the tones of their voices.

“Oh yeah let’s bring G.I. Joe along,” she hears Beca’s voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Why are you being such a jerk about Chicago coming with us?” Chloe asks in slight irritation. “He’s here to _protect us._ ”

“All you end up doing is going googly-eyed and flirty with him anytime you two breathe the same air!”

Yikes. Harsh, Beca.

“So? You have Theo at your beck and call, in case you forgot,” Chloe points out with a bit of an attitude.

What is this, a competition of who has more of a boy problem?

“God he looks like a turtle and he’s a total weirdo!”

“What’s your problem with Chicago, Beca?”

“He’s just some stupid military dude who thinks he knows us but he doesn’t!”

“He’s cute and a nice guy, Beca. Am I not allowed to have eyes or make new friends now?” Chloe asks bitterly.

Beca makes a frustrated sound that kind of sounds like a grunt. “No it’s just-”

“Just what?”

There’s silence and Emily knows this part of the conversation. She’d seen it once or twice during her freshman year. Chloe tapping her foot impatiently and glaring at Beca to say what she’s thinking. Beca breathing slow and trying to figure out what the right thing to say is.

“You know what? Forget it,” Beca sighs. “Let’s just not go anywhere today.”

“Beca.”

Emily notices the way Chloe’s voice drops its hostility right away. It’s much softer now.

“No, I don’t want to leave the hotel today anyway.”

“Bec, come on.”

“I’ll see you later, Chloe.”

There’s no response and Emily quickly keeps walking, opening the door to her own room as Beca walks out of Chloe’s.

Maybe they won’t figure it out eventually.

* * *

“So they got into a fight because Beca’s jealous?” Stacie asks for clarification.

Emily nods, repositioning herself so her arm doesn’t get tired of holding up her phone to talk to Stacie on FaceTime a little bit later that day.

“It sounded bad Stace,” she tells her. “I haven’t heard them talk to each other like that since the Lodge.”

Stacie lets out a sigh, stepping out of Bella’s nursery and shutting the door behind her. “Well,” she frowns. “These men need to get out the way.”

“Agreed,” Emily nods. “But Chicago’s nice. I like him. And he’s hot.”

“Focus here,” Stacie snaps at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbles.

Stacie looks at her seriously. “You might have to do some meddling.”

“Stacie no!” she whines. “You know I hate it!”

“But I’m not there to do it myself!”

“I’m not meddling!”

“Come on, don’t you want to see your mom and dad together?” Stacie asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Emily rolls her eyes. “It’s up to them if they do.”

“You’re no fun.”

She quickly changes the topic, forcing Stacie to talk about something other than Beca and Chloe and their issues.

(When Emily returns from dinner with Lilly, Jessica, and Ashley, she finds the door to Beca’s room left half-open and Chloe curled up with Beca on the bed as they watch whatever Netflix movie they’ve set up on Beca’s laptop.

Emily’s heart warms at the sight.)  


* * *

Emily _should_ be out seeing the city like almost every other Bella is currently doing at the moment.

Instead she is currently staring blankly at her abnormal psychology textbook, reading the same paragraph for the umpteenth time because she’s yet to retain a single sentence she’s had her eyes gloss over.

It’s not like she chose to study instead of go out and sightsee and make more memories because believe her, she’d much rather be doing that.

No, this is all Chloe Beale’s doing.

“Emily, did you finish that one psych assignment you have to e-mail your professor tomorrow?” Chloe had asked while she picked out her outfit of the day.

They’re all situated in Chloe’s room, Beca sprawled out on the bed with Aubrey propped up beside her and Emily laying on her stomach at the foot of the bed.

Emily’s eyes widen. “Um,” she starts. “Not exactly, but-”

“No buts!” Chloe tells her, spinning to face the younger Bella. “You need to finish it today, and you need to be studying for your exam you have when we go home.”

She hears Beca snicker and turns to give her the best glare she can muster.

(It’s not very scary.)

Aubrey looks between Emily and Chloe, slightly amused at the interaction.

“But I wanna go around the city!” Emily pouts.

“You need to stay on top of your studies,” Chloe points out patiently. “Especially since you’re planning on going to grad school.”

Emily huffs, sitting up with a cross of her arms. “But everyone else is going!”

And yeah, she kind of sounds like a major child right now, but Chloe is being _so_ unfair. When else is she going to be able to leisurely see Europe like this?

“Everyone else already _has_ a degree.”

“Not _everyone_ is going,” Beca pipes up, making Emily whip around to face her. “I’m not going.”

There’s a scoff in Emily’s throat. “Who’s side are you on?” she hisses.

Beca only gives her a shrug paired with an amused smirk.

“See?” Chloe smiles. “Beca isn’t going. You have someone to hang out with when you finish your homework.”

“Who said I wanted to hang out with her?” Beca asks with a faux look of disgust.

Emily throws a pillow at her, hitting her square in the chest.

“Not cool dude.”

The legacy groans, looking at Aubrey for some help.

Aubrey sighs. “Chloe does have a point, Em. School’s important.”

She groans louder, annoyed that she can’t even have Aubrey on her side. She feels totally outnumbered and honestly it’s _just not fair._

“Yeah,” she mutters under her breath as she slides off the bed. “That’s why it took Chloe three extra years to pass Russian Lit.”

She thought she’d been quiet enough, but Beca and Aubrey must’ve heard her because Beca makes a noise of disbelief and Aubrey’s eyes widen.

“What did you say, Em?” Chloe asks.

Emily turns to face her and thinks she’s been caught for a moment. She sees the genuine look on Chloe’s face and supposes the redhead really didn’t hear her. She spares a glance at the other two still on the bed. Aubrey’s somewhat discreetly shaking her head and Beca’s giving her a look as if to say _don’t you dare repeat that, young lady._

God. She hates her aca-parents sometimes.

Instead of repeating the sentence she lets out a tired sigh while her shoulders slouch. “I’ll do my stupid homework.”

Chloe beams at this news. “Great!” she claps before skipping over and giving Emily a hug. “We still have another day here. We can take you somewhere cool tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Emily begrudgingly agrees with a pout.

So what if she’s being childish? She’s the youngest, she has every right to be.

(This contradicts her typical “I’m old enough to be part of this conversation, too” attitude, but she’s ignoring that for now.)

Chloe presses a kiss at the top of Emily’s forehead, which she has to lean up on her tiptoes to do, and the gesture makes Emily less annoyed at the whole situation. She knows Chloe’s looking out for her, that’s all. She’s not trying to suck out all her fun.

Huh, maybe Chloe’s gotten more responsible over the years.

“Love you,” Chloe tells her, and it’s one of those “love yous” that you know for a fact is 100% true. “I’ll bring you back something.”

Emily gives her a small smile and responds with, “Thanks, love you” before running off to her room.

So that’s how she ends up staying at the hotel.

But it’s bordering two and a half hours of straight psychology and Emily’s decided she’s had enough. She drops her highlighter into her textbook and flops onto her back with a groan. She stays there for a moment before deciding she’d rather do something than just lay here.

She ends up in front of Beca’s door. She doesn’t hear any noise, so she hesitates for only a moment before she pushes the door open. Beca’s sat on her bed, laptop in front of her and headphones sitting on her head. Emily smiles, she’s seen this Beca many times before; the one who’s so deep into making whatever mix she’s working on that she forgets the world around her.

She notices the movement in front of her and she looks up from her laptop to see Emily standing in her room.

“Oh hey,” she says a little loudly before sliding her headphones off. “Done with psych?”

Emily responds with a flop onto the bed. “I can’t look at another page of that textbook again for the next few hours.”

Beca lets out a quiet chuckle. “You know Chloe just wants the best for you.”

“I know, I know,” Emily replies with a sigh. “Sometimes I forget she cares...like _a lot._ ”

“That’s Chloe for you,” Beca smiles and her eyes have a little extra twinkle that wasn’t there a moment ago.

Emily doesn’t like to meddle. That’s Stacie’s job.

But she just has to ask…

“Why don’t you like Chicago?”

Beca blinks. “What? Where did you hear that from?”

Emily shrugs. “Nowhere. It’s just...noticeable, is all.”

She’s technically not lying, really.

Even before she’d heard Beca and Chloe’s little argument she’s _known_ that Beca hasn’t been friendly to him. Not with all the glares and scowls and scoffs that come from her the minute Chicago is even in the same room as Chloe.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Beca tries, turning her attention back on her current mix.

“Yeah you do,” Emily insists. “You, like, usually make this face whenever he’s around.”

She does her best impression of a Beca Mitchell scowl, which she assumes she doesn’t pull off that well because Beca asks, “I look like that?”

“When’s he’s around,” she nods.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Shut up, you’re stupid.”

“I’m right.”

“Whatever.”

“Tell me.”

“Ugh! _Fine,_ ” Beca relents, perhaps just to get Emily to stop talking for a second. “He’s just so cocky and arrogant and all ‘Oh I’m in the army’ and thinks he can just woo anyone he pleases.”

Emily tries very hard to suppress the grin that’s threatening to break onto her lips.

“You mean like Chloe?” she asks as innocent as she possibly can.

“What, does she like him or something?” Beca asks back with a scoff. “She could do so much better, you know. She doesn’t have to throw herself at that G.I. Joe wannabe,” she sneers.

The legacy does her best to channel her inner-Stacie.

(What Would Stacie Do? Right, that’s how she’ll get through this?)

“I mean, Chloe likes confident people. You know that,” she points out with a nonchalant shrug.

“There are plenty of other confident people that aren’t arrogant,” Beca mutters.

“Maybe she needs help finding them.”

Emily knows she’s pushing the seal a little here. She knows Beca can close up at any moment, but it’s one of the rare moments there aren’t other Bellas - Chloe Beale - who could bust through the door at any moment with a grin and a “Becs, I missed you!” so this is her one chance she’s gotta take.

Beca just stares at her, mouth opening and then closing like a fish.

Yeah, Chloe’s definitely the talker between the two of them.

“So,” Emily abruptly says again when it’s clear Beca has no response. “Show me what you’re working on.”

She turns her attention to Beca’s laptop in front of them, which has Beca’s weird mix program up and a million different buttons Emily will never know the meanings of.

“Uh sure,” Beca stutters, hands reaching out to click a few things on the mix she’s got open. She’s silent for a second, but before she hits play she faces Emily again and says, “You know, you’re a really weird kid.”

“Thanks, my mom tells me that sometimes.”

(Her _real_ mom, by the way, if anyone needed clarification.)

* * *

Chloe delivers on her promise and takes her out the next afternoon after they perform, bringing Jessica and Ashley with them.

Chicago comes, too.

Chloe flirts. Emily rolls her eyes. Jessica and Ashley are in their own little world.  


* * *

They sing, they dance, Theo watches specifically Beca (ew), and Emily’s starting to get sad because this is almost the end.

Their last performance is in France and even though they came into this not even _knowing_ it was a competition, even Gail and John think they have a shot at opening for DJ Khaled.

“I love you awesome nerds,” Beca grins widely at them before they go on.

“Let’s aca-finish this!” Aubrey exclaims, throwing her hand in as the rest of them quickly follow suit.

Emily typically isn’t one to brag, but they _crushed_ it.

Like, there’s no way DJ Khaled won’t choose them now. He has to. People even like them more than they like Evermoist!

Beca, the level-headed one as usual, tells them all that they shouldn’t obsess over it, though. DJ Khaled never specified _when_ he would make the announcement so they should all just enjoy the best of France while they wait. Aubrey is quick to agree.

Emily nods like she understands, but honestly she’s just _so_ excited!

She tries - she really does, she swears - to distract herself. Doing homework doesn’t help. Trying to study doesn’t either. Turns out, there’s not much motivation for studying and homework when you could be opening for _the_ DJ Khaled soon.

Chloe seems to sense everyone’s jitters and anticipation - because Chloe _always_ reads them so well, no matter what - and rounds up the bunch minus Fat Amy to go grab coffee or _something_ the day before the big show.

They lose Beca as they maneuver around the pool when she bumps into Theo. Chloe watches them go, twisting her thumb ring as she does so.

“I’ll catch up with you guys,” Beca calls over her shoulder with a smile.

Chloe smiles back, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Totes.”

“You ready?” Emily asks her as Beca and Theo disappear into the building.

“Yeah,” Chloe nods, following Emily and the rest of the girls out of the hotel.

“You know, he could be telling her we’re opening tomorrow night,” the legacy suggests with a twinkle in her eye.

“Let’s stay cool about this,” Chloe laughs, lightly checking the taller girl with her hip.

“Plus,” Emily adds, looping her arm through Chloe’s. “She’s definitely not into him.”

Chloe gives her a look. “How do you know that? And why does it matter?”

Emily scrunches up her nose. “Definitely not her type,” she affirms. “We bonded when you forced me to do homework.”

The redhead laughs, tugging Emily along so they can catch up to the rest of the girls. She doesn’t respond to Emily’s comments about Beca, but Emily notices the way her smile begins to reach her eyes again.

* * *

Oh em aca-gee they’re opening for Khaled!

Not that there’s been an official announcement yet, but as Emily piles into the car with the rest of the Bellas and the promise of Beca and Fat Amy meeting them there, she can’t help but squeal.

When they start a rendition of Cake by the Ocean and Aubrey and Chloe look at her encouragingly to take the lead, well, she feels her insides swell with joy.

* * *

Emily’s seen _Taken._ She knows Europe can be filled with dangerous men who will find a way to kidnap some girls and do whatever they please with them. But this is like the exact _opposite_ of what that movie was all about.

She’s pretty sure Fat Amy’s dad should be the hero in this situation, not the villain who abducts his daughter’s friends and brings them onto a freakin’ yacht somewhere off the coast of France.

(So turns out Amy wasn’t kidding about her dad not being a good person. Emily just assumed they fought a lot back then.)

She tries really hard to keep her breathing even, wondering if Amy will get here on time and honestly where the _hell_ is Beca when-

Beca!

Emily almost says it out loud, but she doesn’t give it away. Everyone’s looking at her with wide eyes and sheer panic because what the _aca-hell_ is going on and how did she get here and where is Fat Amy and-

“Where did you come from?” Fergus asks.

Oh. Oh no.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Beca answers. “I’m just...small.”

He buys it - which honestly anyone could miss Beca because of how small she is.

Then Beca’s talking in a sickly sweet and innocent voice, telling the girls they should sing if they’re about to die - is she _psycho?!_ Why on earth would the last thing they want to do together be singing? Emily would much rather confess her undying love and affection for all of them and how this has been the best trip of her life or something.

Definitely not singing.

But then Chloe’s actually nodding as if she’s seriously considering it, and it’s not until Beca scolds them for being bad at reading cues that it clicks for everyone else.

Oh! _Oh!_ A distraction!

(Emily totally would’ve caught on if she wasn’t sailing towards her death.)

“What are we singing?” Emily whispers as they push around furniture.

Beca looks between Aubrey and Chloe, and the three nod.

“Toxic.”

It’s part of the set that won the Bellas their ICCA title Beca’s junior year. Chloe and Beca had originally tried to bring it back as part of this tour, but decided they shouldn’t go in that direction at the last minute and scrapped it in place for Cheap Thrills.

Well, at least those rehearsals won’t go to waste now, Emily figures.

“Sing like your life depends on it,” Beca mutters to everyone as they begin to get in formation. “Because it does.”

No. Nope. Not scary at all.

Emily tries to put on her most serious face and as Beca counts them down, talks herself up.

(She notices the glances between Beca and Chloe.

She wonders just how much they can say without using words, and if they make it out of this, which words _will_ they use?)

Emily has never been more relieved to see someone jump through a glass ceiling with a fire extinguisher.

* * *

If Emily’s being honest, she blacked out shortly after Fat Amy burst through the ceiling.

All she remembers from the events that followed is the coldness. She remembers the water was so cold she was shivering, but that’s all she can tell you. She doesn’t remember paddling around in attempts to stay afloat, doesn’t remember the way the yacht lit up the night as it was engulfed in flames, doesn’t remember Chicago carefully lifting her into his boat and taking her and the others back and providing them all with blankets to dry off.

When she’s aware of her surroundings, she’s tagging along with Chloe and Aubrey to bring everyone tea and coffee. They’re quiet the whole walk there. Aubrey and Chloe order and Emily kind of just hangs behind them.

(Apparently Beca had suggested she go along with the older two, but Emily doesn’t remember that happening.)

As they wait for their 10 orders of teas and coffees, the three of them take a seat at the table nearest to the pickup counter. No one speaks for awhile.

Chloe reaches out and grabs Emily’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. The legacy looks up and finds concern in Chloe’s eyes. Emily squeezes back reassuringly. Aubrey leans over, resting her head on Emily’s shoulder.

Yeah, last night might have been crazy, but at least they’ve got each other.

* * *

So turns out the Bellas were _not_ chosen by DJ Khaled to open tonight.

It’s Beca.

At first, as everyone kind of just stares blankly as Beca continues to ramble on about how she won’t take it (um, is she insane?!), Emily’s surprised.

But as she thinks about it more, she realizes that no, there’s no surprise there at all.

After everything she’s seen Beca do in her time with the Bellas, of _course_ DJ Khaled - who, by the way, is like, a total musical genius - wants her. He’d be stupid to overlook someone as talented as Beca Mitchell. From mashups to producing _Emily’s_ original song to just pure singing, Beca’s definitely got it all.

She’s brought back to the conversation when Fat Amy’s talking about how families support each other and lift each other up and-

Hey!

“I kind of feel like I’ve been saying something to that effect the entire..time,” she mumbles somewhat bitterly.

“Oh my god Emily, smart people are talking right now!” Amy snaps.

Emily resists the urge to roll her eyes.

She’s been saying it this _whole time_ meaning she’s been _right_ this whole time! Why can’t anyone notice that?

She turns and notices Cynthia Rose is giving her an empathic look. At least she’s got that going for her.

The conversation continues (without Emily’s input, thanks Amy) and suddenly they’re all bouncing off of each other, sharing their future plans.

(This feels like deja vu, honestly. It’s campfire-esque and Emily is half expecting Chloe to break out into song again.)

“I have an abnormal psych test coming up next week,” she states lamely.

Everyone else has cool new things they’re going to do in the _real world._ She’s still got the rest of her senior year at Barden left.

“but also  you’re gonna keep writing," Aubrey adds her expectantly with her eyebrows raised, but there’s a smile on her face. “so your life isn't filled with crushing regret, right?”

Emily can't help but smile when she replies, "Yes."

The real world doesn’t seem like a scary place at all. Not when she’s got these aca-losers looking out for her.

Beca tears up.

Everyone notices.

Chloe suggests a group hug.

(And when Chloe and Beca hang back after everyone peels themselves off of the group hug, Emily doesn’t say anything.

Aubrey just gives her a wink and a hip check as they follow the rest of the Bellas back outside.)  


* * *

“Oh my god! It’s finally happening!”

Emily cringes at the high pitched squeal coming from her phone, then rolls her eyes.

“Relax Stace,” she says. “We don’t know that yet.”

“What else could it be, then?” Stacie asks with a quirked eyebrow.

Emily shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re best friends. I haven’t seen them like, kiss or something.”

She and the girls are supposed to head off to Beca’s performance soon, and she’s killing time by spending the last half an hour on FaceTime with Stacie, filling her in on their ridiculous night and their morning after.

“You don’t know that they haven’t,” Stacie grins, wiggling her eyebrows. “I know Beca and Chloe. There’s something going on.”

“You haven’t actually _seen_ them since Brooklyn,” Emily reminds her.

Stacie shrugs. “I just feel it.”

Emily snorts.

There’s a knock on her door and then an “Em, are you ready?” that Emily recognizes as Chloe.

“Okay gotta go! Chloe’s at my door,” she tells Stacie.

Stacie’s grin widens. “Send Chloe my love! And tell her congratulations!”

“I will most certainly _not_ tell her that,” Emily groans before hanging up.

She tosses her phone into her clutch before quickly meeting Chloe outside. She’s greeted by the redhead as well as Beca - who had DJ Khaled’s team get her ready in her hotel, which _woah!_ \- waiting outside.

“Wow,” she says, looking Beca up and down. “You look-”

“Obnoxious?” Beca suggests with a frown. “I feel like they did way too much on me.”

“Golden,” Emily grins.

Beca snorts, giving Emily a light shove. “Shut it, legacy.”

“Who were you on the phone with?” Chloe asks with a quirk of an eyebrow.

“Stacie,” she tells them as they begin to walk down the hall. “She sends her love.”

Chloe smiles. “Aw, I miss her! Don’t you, Becs?”

Beca makes a face. “Only a little.”

The redhead laughs vibrantly, grabbing Beca’s hand. “Come on, everyone else is already down in the lobby!”

She begins to speed walk towards the elevators, dragging Beca along with her. Emily also picks up her pace behind them, unable to help but chuckle at the way Beca’s seriously struggling behind Chloe.

“Chlo,” she says in a short breath. “I can’t walk in these stupid boots much less speed walk!”

“We gotta go!” Chloe tells her.

“Why aren’t you dragging Emily?”

The redhead reaches the elevator, hitting the call button before giving Beca a shrug. “She has long legs.”

“It’s true,” Emily smirks.

“You’ve gotten so much sassier since we graduated,” Beca glares.

Chloe doesn’t let go of Beca’s hand, Emily notices. Beca doesn’t seem to mind, but then again she never has. Holding hands is a normal occurrence for the two, so Emily’s not too sure if she should take it as “a sign” - as Stacie would probably call it - but she does notice how Chloe’s always cheery disposition seems even...cheerier now.

They don’t let go of each other until they’re in the van, Chloe tugging Beca into the spot next to her, laughing as Beca pretends to scowl. It doesn’t even last for a minute because there’s a grin on her face when Chloe says something dumb.

Emily smiles. Finally together or not (yet), she loves her aca-parents.

And when Beca begins to have a mini panic attack on the way to the venue, Chloe’s there to rub circles on her back and remind her that she’s got this, she’s gonna kill it, and she will have all the Bellas in the front row to look at when she’s scared.

Beca calms down almost immediately. She stays leaned into Chloe the rest of the drive there.

Emily looks at Aubrey, then at the others.

They’re all trying to hide knowing smiles.

* * *

When Beca starts singing, it’s almost magical.

Emily knows what Beca’s capable of, has seen it in person many many times, but this - this is like a whole new level. The way she has different layers, like she would with a mix she’d make in college, has Emily mesmerized. She’s seated in between Chloe and Aubrey, who both seem just as mesmerized as Emily is.

But even as she keeps her eyes on their little star, Emily can _feel_ Chloe’s big grin next to her.

She doesn’t mind, though. Not when she has her own bundle of pride for Beca swelling inside of her.

And then suddenly they’re on stage with Beca in front of all of these people and cameras. Emily blindly follows Aubrey, feels Chloe squeeze her arm, sees tears welling up in Flo’s eyes already. It’s all too much for her to process, but as soon as she’s on that stage, looking around as they immediately start harmonizing, she doesn’t care about anything besides the girls in front of her.

They sing, smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes, because there’s a finality that settles inside of them. It hadn’t been there yesterday when they did their last official performance, because somehow they all knew they had one more in them. This is their swan song as _the Barden Bellas._

Emily wouldn’t have it any other way.

She sees the shining lights and the crowd eating up this performance and beams. There’s suddenly a band backing them up and although it’s not what they’re used to, it doesn’t matter at all. It’s perfect.

Beca begins to make her rounds, hugging each individual Bella. Emily thinks she sees Chloe kiss the side of Beca’s head, but she could be wrong. When Beca gets to her, the legacy holds her tightly and mumbles a “you rock” before letting go. Beca winks at her in response, grinning as she sings.

As the song ends, the band fades away and it’s only the Bellas and Beca again. The power Emily feels in this significant moment is something she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to describe. Beca hits her last note and the crowd goes wild. Emily’s heart swells for her, and everyone quickly follows Chloe’s lead, forcing Beca into her second group hug of the day.

So maybe Emily’s already crying, but hey everyone else is too.

Even Beca.

Chloe’s grinning at the brunette like an idiot even after everyone pulls away, and Aubrey pulls Emily into their own little hug as they watch.

Emily knows in this moment that they’ve got a family for life now.

* * *

Beca’s held up by the media backstage as they other Bellas follow.

Emily thinks it’s cool.

Beca stutters and looks around frantically.

Chloe begins to fill in her place by Beca’s side, but Flo tugs her back as she nods her head to the left. The Bellas turn to see what’s happening.

 _The_ DJ Khaled is coolly making his way over, Theo flanked to his side. And sure, they’ve been going around Europe with Khaled this whole tour, but Emily can’t remember a time she’s been so close to him. She thinks she might pass out.

(If she’s being honest, she felt the same way when she met Beca at hood night.

Don’t tell Beca that, though.)

“DJ Khaled” she breathes, hitting the closest Bella to her, which happens to be Jessica.

Jessica is already repeatedly slapping Ashley’s arm on her other side.

His musical greatness reaches Beca, who is still trying to figure out what to do, and excuses her by asking everyone to direct their questions to him instead. The media takes this bait willingly, and Beca gratefully moves away and the Bellas follow her to the far side of the area, away from the media.

“Damn, you’re a big time bitch now,” Cynthia Rose chuckles, looking Beca up and down impressed.

“If anyone asks if you have any single friends make sure you mention I’m single _and_  have money,” Amy tells her seriously.

Beca gives Amy a look, but she turns back to the rest of them. “Wow,” she says, and it seems like that’s all she can really say.

“Beca we’re so proud of you!” Emily squeals. “You’re amazing!”

They’re all talking over each other like they always do, each of them trying to tell Beca how wonderful and great she is. Chloe’s grabbing Beca’s arm and Beca is trying to tell all of them how much she loves them and “thanks for coming up on stage with me, I literally was freaking out up there” and then Theo’s strolling over somewhat apprehensively.

“Beca,” he calls out, but it sounds like a question. It gets the girls to stop and turn to him immediately. “We need you for a moment.”

“Oh,” Beca says dumbly before nodding. “Right, okay.”

Aubrey smiles at her. “We’ll be outside,” she promises.

Beca nods again. “Yeah, yeah you guys go ahead.”

They all begin to file out, but Beca’s grabbing onto Chloe’s wrist for a moment.

“Wait for me?” she says quietly, so only the likes of Chloe - and Emily, who’s right next to Chloe - hears.

Chloe nods, giving her a smile. “I’ll be right over there,” she tells her with a point towards the exit.

Beca smiles, looking somewhat relieved before she goes off to let Theo lead her back to Khaled’s team.

Emily falls into step with Chloe, still buzzing from Beca’s performance.

“She’s great,” Emily beams. “Isn’t Beca like, the greatest person ever?”

Chloe grins widely at the legacy. “The greatest,” she agrees. “Now go ahead and catch up with the other Bellas. I’m going to wait for Becs.”

Emily smiles her knowing smile. Chloe looks like she’s about to open her mouth and ask what the look is for so she offers a flittery wave and a “mkay sounds good!” before bouncing down the steps and away from Chloe.

As she begins to run off to where Aubrey and a few of the other Bellas are circled up, she skids to a stop when she sees Chicago leaning against the wall.

“Hi Emily,” he nods when he realizes she’s staring.

“Hey Chicago,” she replies sweetly. “What are you doin’ over there?”

He clears his throat. “Um, is Chloe coming anytime soon?”

Emily blinks, looking from Chicago to the stairs she’d just come down before returning her gaze on the man. “Beca had to go talk to Khaled’s team, so I think Chloe’s waiting for her,” she tells him.

“Oh,” he nods. “Well, thank you.”

There’s a flicker of something in his expression that Emily doesn’t quite catch, but it’s gone as soon as it appears so she smiles at him before catching up to Aubrey and the others.

* * *

Aubrey’s dad is just as scary as everyone makes him sound.

He’s nice, though.

Aubrey punches him in the gut.

(Emily may still be a little scared of Aubrey again.)

But she hasn’t seen Aubrey this happy. It makes Emily happy, too.

* * *

DJ Khaled throws one last party, this time in honor of Beca.

Emily is proud to report that they don’t burn the party down.

She’s full of alcohol and love, and there’s no place she’d rather be than here with her friends. They dance and laugh along with the rest of the bands they toured with. Most of the bitterness of not being chosen to open for Khaled has long since subsided.

Emily makes friends with Calamity; apparently she’s nicer and less intimidating when she’s drunk.

Beca’s the star of the party, lots of people come up and talk to her but she handles it in stride, especially when Chloe is by her side and able to fill any gaps Beca leaves by being her awkward, adorable self.

They all dance and sing along to the songs that burst through the speakers, drunk and content with each other’s company.

They know tomorrow means it’s back home, back to reality, so they live for tonight.

Emily can’t say she sees Chloe or Beca without the other the whole night. Chicago is nowhere to be seen, but everyone’s so busy enjoying the moment that no one really has a comment for the way Beca and Chloe are _always_ touching each other in some manner tonight, whether it’s an arm around the other, holding hands, or whatever else Chloe Beale does that Beca doesn’t question.

Fat Amy doesn’t insult Emily once the whole night, and Emily takes it as an accomplishment.

They party until the late hours and all stumble back to their hotel rooms, tired but surrounded by each other.

That’s all they really need, anyway.

* * *

Emily’s really hungover.

Like, she’s had her fair share of college hangovers, but this might have to be up there with all the rest of them.

(This includes one of her first times going out with the Bellas her freshman year. Apparently Chloe and Stacie had brought her to the Bella house at the end of the party and let her sleep in Amy’s bed, who had mysteriously disappeared for the night.

Emily does not remember any of this happening.)

Aubrey comes into her room with coffee and aspirin, sitting at the edge of her bed as she tries to shake Emily.

“I’m dead,” Emily deadpans, head still buried into her pillow.

“Get up,” the blonde laughs. “We’re leaving today.”

At this Emily slowly turns, squinting up at Aubrey with a pout. “I’m not ready to go back. Let’s just stay a little longer.”

Aubrey sighs wistfully. “You know we can’t,” she tells her. “The real world awaits and you have a test next week.”

“I don’t wanna go back to school,” Emily whines.

“You have to,” Aubrey lightly reminds her with a knowing look. “You have an ICCA title to win, a GRE to pass with flying colors, and a stage to walk for graduation.”

Emily blinks, looking at Aubrey for a moment. Slowly, her lips turn into a smile.

“You’re the best,” she tells the woman.

“I won’t tell Beca and Chloe you said that,” she winks.

* * *

Emily sighs, flopping onto her bed with her suitcase and travel bags at her feet. She’s checked the room twice and she’s _pretty_ sure she has everything she needs.

(She always has a paranoia she’s forgetting something - a trait that her mom instilled in her growing up.)

A few of the military men knock on her open door and offer to take her luggage. She smiles and insists she can do it herself, but Chicago only smiles back and continues to take it anyway.

Yeah, she’ll miss having nice army men doing anything she needs them to.

Aubrey pops her head in a moment later. “You packed?”

Emily nods obediently. “Chicago and the guys just took my stuff.”

“Perfect, can you check on Beca and Chloe? They should be in Beca’s room. They’re taking forever,” Aubrey groans. “I’m gonna do a quick check of everyone before we head down.”

“Sure,” Emily agrees, hopping off her bed.

She looks around her hotel room one more time - just to be safe - before walking out and two doors down to Beca’s hotel room. She notices the door isn’t all the way closed and instead of knocking - because honestly _none_ of the Bellas knock, like, ever - and swings the door open.

She’s about to say something about Aubrey demanding they be ready, but her jaw drops and her eyes almost bulge out of their sockets open when she finds the two Bellas.

Oh. Em. Aca. Gee.

The aca-gods have spoken.

She finds Beca and Chloe in front of the bathroom door. Chloe has an arm wrapped around Beca’s waste while the other is lost in the brunette’s hair. One of Beca’s hands is gripping to the front of Chloe’s shirt tightly while the other caresses’ the redhead’s face. They’re in the midst of having a full-on makeout session and take no notice to the young Bella standing in the doorway.

“Em, what’s taking them so long?” she hears Aubrey down the hall approaching.

She tries to speak, but no words come out of her open mouth. She also tries to turn around and maybe just pretend she didn’t just walk in on this, but she can’t seem to move.

“Emily?” Aubrey asks again, this time closer. “Em, what is going on?”

Emily hears footsteps and immediately backs out of the doorway, trying to close the door.

“What’s the hold up?” Aubrey asks when she reaches Emily, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Um,” Emily starts, then quietly opens the door back up again to show her what she’d just witnessed.

Aubrey’s eyes first widen in understanding. “Oh,” she murmurs with a nod.

“Yeah,” Emily whispers, awkwardly shifting her weight.

The blonde’s face then shifts as she forms a smirk. “Lobby in five!” she says loudly.

It startles Beca and Chloe, who pull apart for a moment.

“Fuck off Posen,” Beca groans, but there’s a smile there as Chloe rests her forehead gently against the shorter girl’s.

Chloe turns her head slightly, smiling at Aubrey who gives her a wink.

“We’ll be there,” the redhead promises. “Em, make sure you have everything.”

Emily snorts, amused that Chloe still has it in her to look after everyone else while her was _clearly_ busy doing other things.

Aubrey seems satisfied with this answer and begins to close the door when she pauses and adds, “Beca, I can see your toner through your jeans.”

Beca flips her off. "That's my dick."

Aubrey laughs, closing the door. She wraps an arm around Emily’s shoulder and says, “Took them long enough.”

Emily grins. She’ll let her aca-parents have their long awaited moment.

“Yeah, finally.” She’s quiet for a minute and then asks, “What’s a toner?”

* * *

Beca and Chloe show up to the van for the airport with messy hair and swollen lips.

They get teased the whole way there, and through security, and at their gate.

Beca scowls. Chloe grins.

They hold hands and Chloe kisses Beca’s face multiple times.

Emily loves every second of it.

(She watches them on the plane, how natural it is for Beca’s hand to rest on Chloe’s thigh and for Chloe to be half asleep and leaning against the smaller girl.

How had they not gotten together sooner? Emily doesn’t understand.

She didn’t have to meddle much, though. Her aca-parents figured it out by themselves.)

* * *

They land at JFK an entirely too long flight later and Emily feels heavy because this is where their goodbyes need to take place.

Beca, Chloe, and Amy will be leaving this airport and going back to their tiny Brooklyn apartment.

Almost everyone else will be on a connecting flight home.

“Don’t be sad,” Chloe tells her as she wraps her up into a warm hug. “We’ll see you at graduation.”

Beca grins behind her. “Can’t get rid of us yet, legacy.”

Emily laughs into Chloe’s hair. “I wouldn’t want to.”

And it’s hard to say goodbyes so Emily doesn’t. Instead, she makes them all promise she’ll see them in May when she walks the stage.

“Go get that national championship,” Aubrey tells her, giving her one last squeeze of the shoulder.

Emily nods, smiling. “I will.”

And though they all part their separate ways, Emily smiles because she knows that they’ll never quite get rid of each other.

Not that Emily would want to.

* * *

She calls Stacie during her layover and tells her about the scene she’d walked in on.

Stacie screams so loud Emily has to take out her earphones for a second.

“I knew it,” the older girl insists. “I just knew it.”

Emily laughs. “Of course you did.”

After all, Stacie’s one of the smartest people she knows.

* * *

The Barden Bellas have another ICCA title under their name. They’ll compete for another next year and also attend the World Championships, but Emily won’t be part of that.

No, instead she’ll be attending grad school in California, not too far from Los Angeles where Beca is and only a few hours’ drive away from Davis where Chloe attends vet school. They’ve both already informed her she’s free to visit them at any given time.

It’s all very bittersweet. Emily cherishes her time as a Barden Bella - all the memories she’s made, old and new.

But when she sees her older Bellas in the stands - including Stacie and little Bella - as she walks across the stage, she knows being a Bella isn’t just a four-year thing.

After the ceremony there are pictures and laughter and tears - mainly Chloe and somewhat Emily - but they’re all together again, and that’s what really matters.

“I’m surprised you graduated,” Fat Amy teases.

Emily just rolls her eyes in response. She learned that move from Beca.

Beca and Chloe pull her aside at one point, insisting _they_ need pictures with just the three of them.

(Beca insists they don’t, it’s mostly Chloe.

Emily agrees because, well, they’re her aca-parents.)

“We’re just so proud of you,” Chloe gushes, fixing a strand of Emily’s hair. “You grew up so fast.”

Beca snorts. “Stop being a sap, Chlo.”

“Becs, aren’t you proud of her?” Chloe insists, grinning as she motions to Emily’s cap and gown.

“Yeah alright,” Beca smiles at Emily. “You’ve gone great, kid. You’re the best legacy we could’ve asked for.”

“Thanks,” Emily beams, once again relieved she’s been able to fill such big shoes since Chloe and Beca left.

Chloe hands her phone off to Stacie, who encourages them to smile big. Emily does, the biggest she’s ever smiled.

After a few snaps on the phone, Stacie frowns. “Beca stop scowling. You look mad.”

“She always looks like that,” Aubrey teases.

Chloe leans over Emily to look at Beca. “Becs, smile please? Can we have at least one nice picture with Emily?”

“Yeah at least look like you’re happy for the kid,” Cynthia Rose adds.

Beca rolls her eyes in her signature way, but relents. “Fine, I will.”

“Love you,” Chloe grins.

“You better,” Beca mutters.

Emily’s heart soars. She really loves both of them, and she tells them so. “I love you both, now smile!”

Chloe laughs, returning to her original position and Stacie snaps a few more.

“Perfect!” she exclaims, handing the phone back to Chloe.

The three of them peer at the screen and Emily’s heart almost melts at what she sees. She’s cheesing hard while Chloe’s in mid-laughter, eyes shining as they look at Emily proudly and Beca’s side-eying Emily, a genuine smile on her face.

She’s suddenly pulled into a conversation involving Aubrey and her mother, and when she looks over her shoulder a few minutes later, she sees Beca and Chloe close together and smiling like fools.

Emily turns back around, engaging herself in the conversation again.

She’ll let her aca-parents have a moment to themselves.

They’ve waited seven years for this.

Aubrey says something that sends Emily’s mother into a fit of laughter, and Stacie’s showing off her child to all the other Bellas, and Chloe and Beca are still in their little moment, and Emily feels whole.

She knows her aca-family isn’t perfect, but she also knows that no families ever are.

They’re all a little dysfunctional, and now she joins the ranks of all of them, being in the _real world_ after college and having to really do things on her own, but she can count on these women to guide her when times get tough, to be ones she calls when she’s overwhelmed or be the ones who she shares any good news with first.

Leaving college should be scary, but somehow it’s not.

Not when she’s surrounded by encouragement and love from the women who came before her and stayed long after their days at Barden University were over.

“What did I tell you?” her mother says with a knowing tone as they watch the old Bellas interact. “My days as a Barden Bella were-”

“-the best days of your life,” Emily finishes, smiling. “I know. Mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi thanks for reading! i have a side pp blog if you wanna chat. hit me up at backtobasicbellas or leave a lovely comment here! Also, idk how to link things on here, but I made some social media posts from Emily that go with this fic if you'd like to check it out!


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